Everything Still On The Table For Vols Vs. Kentucky
Image: fox17.com
By Donaven Cook
“Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur, happy kitty, sad kitty, pur pur pur…” or whatever Sheldon Cooper said.
The Kentucky Wildcats and head coach Mark Pope come into Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center tonight at 7 ET looking to get a big win over the Vols. The game will air on ESPN.
The Wildcats have fallen out of the AP Top 10 and are now ranked No. 12 in the polls after suffering back-to-back losses to Alabama and Vanderbilt.
Kentucky is averaging 88.7 points per game and holding opponents to 74.6 points per game.
Being 3-3 in conference games so far this season, Kentucky faithful are hoping to go above .500 with a win against the Vols.
A season that started off without coach John Calipari for the first time in 15 years had some Kentucky fans excited about the fresh new start while some were still weary about moving on from Cal and his previous success.
I’d venture to say those doubts have since been erased as Arkansas has secured their position at the bottom of the conference.
The new-look Wildcats — typically freshman-led in years past — are now led by upper-classmen and graduate students.
They lean on experience rather than raw 5-star talent.
The Volunteers lost a heartbreaker on the plains against Auburn Saturday, 53-51.
Zakai Zeigler had another stellar all-around performance but just missed his last shot, a three-pointer, that would have secured victory against the Tigers.
Graduate transfer Chaz Lanier has seemingly broken out of his shooting slump and being at home with a familiar rim should help him continue his success.
Felix Okpara has played a more pivotal role as of late, really coming up big by grabbing key offensive rebounds and affecting shots even when they aren’t blocked.
The guy who still has a lot of room for improvement is Igor Milicic. Igor’s shot from three-point range just hasn’t been there, plain and simple, and his mid-range game hasn’t flourished like many had hoped.
Jon Reed prefers Igor to drive to the basket and be more aggressive while some are hopeful he too can shoot himself out of a slump the way Chaz did.
If the Volunteers want to stay in the AP Top 10 and fight for a No. 1 seed in the tournament, this is a must-win game.
It is not a foregone conclusion that a one seed is out of reach but prior to conference games beginning, the maximum number of losses was probably five to six. That is still possible.
Another thing the Vols could be fighting for is the bye in the SEC tournament, being one of the top ranked teams in the conference.
While we would love to still be drinking from the keg of glory from Saturday, fans can still be disappointed and yet see reasons to be optimistic.
This team hasn’t reached its ceiling yet, in my opinion, and if there is a coach I’d trust to get the potential out of a team it’s Rick Barnes.
I predict Tennessee will use their smothering defense to wrap up the Kentucky game and look forward to getting some revenge on Florida on Saturday.